{"id":5002,"date":"2015-08-04T03:52:31","date_gmt":"2015-08-04T07:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?p=5002"},"modified":"2019-11-15T15:24:26","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T11:24:26","slug":"critical-android-mms-vulnerability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/5002\/","title":{"rendered":"95% of Android phones can be hacked with one just MMS, millions at risk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The most scandalous threat is tickling the nerves of Android phones owners: Zimperium zLabs reported six gaping hole in Google OS in April 2015. They also told Forbes that while Google sent out patches to its partners, unbelievably, most manufacturers did not make fixes available to protect their customers yet. The bugs are called\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.zimperium.com\/the-biggest-splash-at-blackhat-and-defcon-2015\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">the worst Android flaws ever discovered<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Security researchers\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.zimperium.com\/experts-found-a-unicorn-in-the-heart-of-android\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">claim that 95% of Android devices \u2013 roughly 950 million smartphones \u2013 are exposed to the exploit<\/a>. Older devices running on an Android OS version below 2.2 are secured as well as gizmos running the latest build of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/blackphone-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Silent Circle\u2019s Blackphone<\/a>, which has already patched. Security updates for Nexus phone are slated to be released soon.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It only takes one text to hack 950 million Android phones: <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/4fTPuHrTOp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">http:\/\/t.co\/4fTPuHrTOp<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Stagefright?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">#Stagefright<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/I4RxDjOx6V\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/I4RxDjOx6V<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Forbes Tech (@ForbesTech) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ForbesTech\/status\/625752522280574976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">July 27, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Discovering your mobile number is enough for a hacker who wants to make a malicious injection into your phone: they will do it with an infectious MMS. You receive it \u2014 and their work can begin. You don\u2019t even need to open the message to become a victim, as your OS will do everything for you. A terrifyingly efficient and silent attack, don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n<p>The vulnerability resides in the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/source.android.com\/devices\/media.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Stagefright software library<\/a>. Google Hangouts is also implicated as it is used as a default app that processes video messages and thereby activates the virus.<\/p>\n<p>Once installed, the malware can remove the original MMS to cover up all tracks. Being up and running, the virus will be able to spy on you via mobile camera and microphone, share your data onto the web and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/hackers-smartphone-infographic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">perform other nasty things<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Google has\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/thomasbrewster\/2015\/07\/27\/android-text-attacks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">recently prepared additional patches for its Nexus phones<\/a>\u00a0and promised to releases them soon. Sadly, if you are not the owner of Nexus device, you may never see a security update for your phone. Unfortunately, smartphone manufacturers\u2019 idling in providing patches is notorious, especially if you own a device older than 18 months.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">lol when ur Jeep gets updates faster than ur Android phone<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SwiftOnSecurity\/status\/625810252038942720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">July 27, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/miguelhelft\/2015\/03\/23\/meet-cyanogen-the-startup-that-wants-to-steal-android-from-google-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CyanogenMod<\/a>, the alternative Android OS, recently\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/+CyanogenMod\/posts\/7iuX21Tz7n8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">released fixes<\/a>. Here are some guidelines on how to protect yourself if your manufacturer fails to pass along an update for your device.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You can root your Android mobile and disable Stagefright. After that you are free to go further and switch to another mobile OS.<\/li>\n<li>You can buy a new secured smartphone (manufacturers, celebrate!) and relax until a new critical vulnerability is found.<\/li>\n<li>Change settings and stop receiving MMSs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-pullquote\"><p>Bad #Android #MMS #vulnerability: what is it and how to defend<\/p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fkas.pr%2FVU8R&amp;text=Bad+%23Android+%23MMS+%23vulnerability%3A+what+is+it+and+how+to+defend\" class=\"btn btn-twhite\" data-lang=\"en\" data-count=\"0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Tweet<\/a><\/blockquote>\n<p>Whichever method you choose, you\u2019ll still face a number of inconveniences. The quickest way is to disable auto-fetching of MMS for Hangout. You can do it literally in a minute:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>open Hangout;<\/li>\n<li>tap Options on the top left corner;<\/li>\n<li>tap Settings -&gt; SMS;<\/li>\n<li>uncheck the Auto Retrieve MMS option in the Advanced Tab.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If you use default messaging apps, you can do the same like this:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>open the messaging app;<\/li>\n<li>tap More -&gt; Settings -&gt; More Settings<\/li>\n<li>tap Multimedia Messages -&gt; Turn OFF Auto Retrieve.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Let\u2019s hope that smartphone manufacturers will finally take these issues seriously. We can also encourage them a bit by tweeting directly to the manufacturers, which at most have customer support accounts on Twitter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The most scandalous threat is tickling the nerves of Android phones owners: Zimperium zLabs reported six gaping hole in Google OS in April 2015. They also told Forbes that while<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":522,"featured_media":5003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1486],"tags":[105,109,22,426,512,192,97,45,521,692],"class_list":{"0":"post-5002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-threats","9":"tag-android","10":"tag-apps","11":"tag-google","12":"tag-mobile-devices","13":"tag-mobile-malware","14":"tag-protection","15":"tag-security-2","16":"tag-smartphones","17":"tag-threats","18":"tag-trojans"},"hreflang":[{"hreflang":"en-ae","url":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/5002\/"},{"hreflang":"ar","url":"https:\/\/me.kaspersky.com\/blog\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/3475\/"},{"hreflang":"en-us","url":"https:\/\/usa.kaspersky.com\/blog\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/5731\/"},{"hreflang":"en-gb","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.uk\/blog\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/6061\/"},{"hreflang":"es-mx","url":"https:\/\/latam.kaspersky.com\/blog\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/5873\/"},{"hreflang":"es","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.es\/blog\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/6530\/"},{"hreflang":"it","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.it\/blog\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/6402\/"},{"hreflang":"ru","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.ru\/blog\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/8583\/"},{"hreflang":"x-default","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/9471\/"},{"hreflang":"fr","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.fr\/blog\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/4748\/"},{"hreflang":"pt-br","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com.br\/blog\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/5561\/"},{"hreflang":"de","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.de\/blog\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/5923\/"},{"hreflang":"ja","url":"https:\/\/blog.kaspersky.co.jp\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/8431\/"},{"hreflang":"ru-kz","url":"https:\/\/blog.kaspersky.kz\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/8583\/"},{"hreflang":"en-au","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com.au\/blog\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/9471\/"},{"hreflang":"en-za","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.za\/blog\/critical-android-mms-vulnerability\/9471\/"}],"acf":[],"banners":"","maintag":{"url":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/tag\/android\/","name":"Android"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/522"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5002"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14935,"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5002\/revisions\/14935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}